Temple of Terror (book)
:For other uses of '''Temple of Terror', see'' Temple of Terror (disambiguation) Temple of Terror is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Bill Houston and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 14th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031832-1) and 19th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-528-X). Creation Dragon Master is believed to be the working title for Temple of Terror.The title is mentioned in an advert in Sorcery! 3 (The Seven Serpents). Background In this book the player is hired by the Good wizard Gereth Yaztromo and pitted against the Evil Malbordus, who is poised to gain the power of the Dark Elves and lead an army to conquer Allansia. All that he requires are the five Dragon artifacts, which are hidden in the lost city of Vatos which lies somewhere in the Desert of Skulls, and which the player must locate before the final confrontation with Malbordus. Temple of Terror's desert setting lends the story a unique ern feel, both in terms of the setting and the opponents faced. As with many Livingstone adventures, such as City of Thieves and Crypt of the Sorcerer, the player must collect a series of artefacts in order to be successful in the final confrontation, an element which is given an unusual twist by the presence of a character known as the Messenger of Death, who has placed the letters which make up the word death along the character's route and will claim the character's life if they are all found. Fighting Monsters/Equipment/Hints on Play The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *''Temple of Terror'' also utilises a simple spell-casting system. Ten different spells can be used: Create Water, Creature Sleep, Detect Trap, Fire, Jump, Language, Light, Magic Arrow, Open Door, and Read Symbols; and the player must choose only four. *The book is the first fantasy based one to not feature the use of the generic Potions and not offer a replacement in the form of something else such a healing spell. Equipment List *Sword *Leather Armour *Backpack *Lantern *10 Provisions Cover and Illustrations '''Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Christos Achilleos. Interestingly, on the spine of the Adventure Gamebooks editions of this book, there was no Puffin Books "Puffin" symbol, the logo appearing on later editions. This only occurred on one other book, Chasms of Malice, although in that case the logo does not appear on any edition. When the book was republished by Wizard a new cover was designed and illustrated by Martin McKenna. Here he states that "Ian Livingstone wanted me to depict the Mutant Orc from the adventure. He suggested that we could see the Orc in close-up, an idea inspired by the close-up of Zagor on the Return to Firetop Mountain cover. I McKenna did a rough which showed the Mutant Orc in mid-shot, with his long knives as seen in the internal artwork. But Ian wanted to zoom right into the Orc's face in extreme close-up."Interview with [[Martin McKenna] about Temple of Terror at the official Fightingfantasygamebooks.com] #Price of 1st Impression; £1.95 for 5th~6th Impressions #Price of 9th Impression #Price of 12th Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Bill Houston. There were 33 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 10, 24, 38, 47, 59, 68, 79, 93, 106, 119, 128, 140, 151, 164, 180, 196, 206, 216, 227, 237, 249, 262, 274, 288, 302, 316, 329, 341, 354, 365, 377 and 389. Intertextual References Prequels Depending on interpretation, this adventure can be deemed a sequel to The Forest of Doom, itself a sequel to Caverns of the Snow Witch. Other Media The book was loosely adapted into an Adventure Soft adventure game for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computers (published by US Gold). Main Characters YOU: Hero of Caverns of the Snow Witch *Abjul - Merchant *Gargo *Gereth Yaztromo - Wizard *King Gillibran - Dwarf *Leesha - High Priestess *Malbordus *Murkegg - Artist *Thitta *Vermithrax - Crow Locations *Catfish River *Clog Street *Darkwood Forest *Desert of Skulls *Harbour Street *Port Blacksand *Red River *Stonebridge *''The Black Lobster'' *Vatos *Whitewater River *Yaztromo's Tower Encounters *Cave Troll *Dark Elves *Death Dog *Fiend *Giant Centipede *Giant Eagle *Giant Fireflies *Giant Sandworm *Harpy *Human - Dark Disciples/Pirate/Robbers/Servant/Slave Guard/Torturer *Lizard Man *Malbordus *Mutant Orc *Needle Flies *Night Horror *Pterodactyl *Rat Men *Serpent *Serpent Guard *Skeletons - Men/Warriors *Stone Golem *Sword *Tentacles - Tentacled Thing/Tentacles Further Notes Errors *In one room the player will encounter an effigy which is described as being made of bronze. But in a warning before-hand and when the player has to fight the statue (which turns out to be magically animated), it is labelled a stone Golem. Dedication To Chris Achilleos and Iain McCaig for making fantasy a reality See Also *''Armies of Death'' *''Caverns of the Snow Witch'' (Mini-FF) *''Caverns of the Snow Witch'' *''City of Thieves'' *''Crypt of the Sorcerer'' *''Deathtrap Dungeon'' *''Dicing with Dragons'' *''Eye of the Dragon'' (Mini-FF) *''Eye of the Dragon'' *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Freeway Fighter'' *''Island of the Lizard King'' *''Legend of Zagor'' *''Return to Firetop Mountain'' *''The Forest of Doom'' *''Trial of Champions'' *''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' External Links *Character Sheet *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=51 Temple of Terror at Gamebooks.org] *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb14.htm Temple of Terror at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com] *[http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff19.htm Temple of Terror at the official Fightingfantasygamebooks.com] *[http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-528-X ''Temple of Terror at Wizard Books] References Category:1985 books Category:FF14 Entries Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series